How to Restore Grass to Burn Piles?

[ponytug]

Seems like the recovery process takes two years on its own.

Or more. A lot depends on the size of the pile, the intensity of the burn, your soil, and how much rain comes down afterwards.

Here, there were years old burn pile remnants when we bought this place. A pass of rototilling didn't help, so I took to composting on top of the piles, and then annually tilling the compost into whole area. It took about five years of composting and tilling to get grass growing. I have no idea how long the prior owners had burned there, but I do know there was a three year gap, so perhaps 9+ years. For awhile the only things that would grow were cockleburr and nettles. I'm still finding pieces of redwood, scrap glass and metal, so the burn pile wasn't just logs.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Torvy]

I think it must have been something they were burning. I've never had problems getting grass to grow when burning natural trees and brush. Use a rake to spread them out and plant seed directly in the layer of ash.

 

[ponytug]

I think it must have been something they were burning. I've never had problems getting grass to grow when burning natural trees and brush. Use a rake to spread them out and plant seed directly in the layer of ash.

Certainly could be. We get very little rain (7-12"/yr), which doesn't help.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ning]

Burning often improves growth.

Oh definitely. But there's burning, and there's burning.

Recently my wife asked me to torch an old raised bed area. First weedwhacked it, raked it, then used the 400k BTU propane weed torch, thoroughly.

Looked great.

Leaf raked it again and it looked like I hadn't even started the torching. Redid the torching. Got everything glowing nice and red with it.

Raked a little spot.

Same thing.

Screw it, I was done.

One pass of that weed torch was more of a burn than a grass fire would've been; there's no surprise that things love to regrow after a fire - there's still typically lots of seeds and all the old mulch blocking light and progress is burned off.

Ten years of burn pile on the other hand, there's not a hint of anything living in the foot below the surface. Nothing would grow in that spot for years without significant help, and I previously had a burn pile in another spot I didn't care about and it was literally 10 years before it had any significant coverage (on its own).

Mind you, this isn't Florida and six months out of the year nothing grows, but in those other six months things are really aggressive.

 

[Torvy]

Of course, you have to plant something, but the new seeds don't have competition because the random wild stuff was sterilized.

If the ash is too deep, you need to spread it out so some organic soil can be reached by the roots.

 

[paulsharvey]

Bury the ash, or atleast turn it down into the soil. Bahia likes a 5.5-6 ph, so the ash might have raised the PH too much? Pine straw and/or oak leaves will reduce the PH back down to a health 6ish PH

 

[BnRidge]

I've ruined garden beds to the point that weeds won't grow, by spreading too much wood ash from the stove. Just saying.

 

[paulsharvey]

If it was me, I would turn the ash into the soil, or bury it; throw some seed, and then lightly cover it with your old spoiled hay.

 

[mikester]

Option 1: Slow but environmentally friendly solution

Rake it smooth, let the grass and weeds fill it in naturally, keep mowing the area. Next year you will notice the area less. In 5 years you won't remember it was there.

Option 2: I have ADHD and want an instant solution

Buy a pallet of sod. Rake the area smooth. Install sod. Water area regularly until sod takes.